


A picture says a thousand words

by madasthesea



Series: what you were then outtakes/drabbles [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Peter Parker is a Genius, Photographer Peter Parker, Photography, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, academic decathlon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-12 02:05:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18001736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madasthesea/pseuds/madasthesea
Summary: Tony goes to Peter's Academic Decathlon competition, has an epiphany and his picture taken.





	A picture says a thousand words

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt from someone on tumblr that I just couldn't ignore.

Peter’s Academic Decathlon regionals are in Manhattan this year. Tony schedules to have the day free of meetings and obligations a month before they even determine if Midtown is going, cause he’s determined to be there cheering Peter on.

The competing schools are already assembled when Tony gets there at 1:30. He sees Midtown, swarming around in their gold jackets. He spots Peter instantly, like a magnetic pull. The kid has the camera Tony gave him around his neck, and he’s smiling as he takes a picture of Ned and MJ messing around.

Tony watches him fondly for a second until people start noticing him, which makes Peter notice him. Tony gives him a crooked smile and a small wave and Peter carefully pulls away from his group of friends.

“Hey, Tony,” he says as he walks up. “Thanks for coming.”

“Wouldn’t miss it, kiddo,” Tony assures, following as Peter leads him through the throng of students and parents. People stare as they pass, but Tony ignores them, keeps a grounding hand on Peter’s shoulder to remind him to do the same.

Peter leads him to a seat towards the back of the auditorium, where Ned’s and MJ’s moms are. Tony smiles at them, remembering Ned’s mom from May’s funeral.

“I saved a seat for you,” Peter explains, gesturing to his ragged backpack on one of the chairs.

“Thanks, bud,” Tony says, just as a frazzled looking woman leans to speak into the microphone on the podium in the middle of the stage.

“The science portion of the quiz will begin in ten minutes. Competing students should be backstage and checking in right now.”

“Oh, crap,” Peter exclaims, looking up and seeing MJ a few feet away gesturing at him to come over. “I’ve got to go.”

“Go.“ Tony shoos him away. “Break a leg.”

Peter shoots him another smile then hurries over to MJ, Ned looking anxious over her shoulder.

MJ says something to him as Peter passes, pulling Ned along with him by the arm. Then, Tony hears in a sudden lull in the noise level of the auditorium, and Peter calls back, “Oh, hey, MJ, could you give my camera to my dad?”

Tony’s mouth goes dry. He watches as Peter unslings the expensive camera from around his neck and passes it to MJ before hurrying backstage. Neither MJ nor Ned seemed surprised by Peter’s word choice.

There are still nights when Tony replays Peter’s voice in his head, soft and muttered, as he said “You’re a good dad.” He holds onto it on bad days when he thinks he hurts more than he helps, when Peter trusts Maggie more than him. But that hadn’t been... possessive. Definitive. He hadn’t been _Peter’s_ dad, just _a_ dad.

_My dad_.

_Oh my gosh, I love you,_ Tony thinks, staring at the place where Peter had disappeared behind the red velvet curtain. _I love you I love you I love you_.

_My dad._

A camera shutter clicking breaks him out of his thoughts.

Tony blinks, looking down and seeing MJ standing in front of him, Peter’s camera poised in front of her eye.

“You know,” she starts casually, seeming to adjust some settings on the screen like she wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation, “I was worried, when you first adopted him. Tony Stark is known for nothing if not publicity stunts.”

Tony bristles. “It wasn’t a _publici—”_

“I know,” MJ interrupts. She snaps another picture and Tony scowls at her. “You did it cause you love him.”

“Twitter tell you that, too?” Tony asks coolly, ignoring the way his heart stutters at the nonchalant way she says it.

“Nope,” MJ says, taking one more picture before lowering the camera and looking directly at Tony for the first time. “You just did.”

She tosses the camera at him and Tony catches it, his heart in his throat, afraid of damaging one of Peter’s most prized possessions.

He wants to know what she means but doesn’t want to ask. “You’ve got heart eyes for days, Stark,” she says, shrugging in her bright gold jacket. “You didn’t know he calls you his dad?”

He really hates how observant this girl is. He changes the subject.

“Don’t you have a team to lead, Captain Jones?” he asks with a raised eyebrow. “Or do you want to keep psychoanalyzing me?”

“Who says I can’t do both?” She offers him a crooked grin that he has a feeling he’s privileged to see. “’Captain Jones,’” she muses as she starts walking backwards toward the stage. “I like that.”

“Don’t forget to take pictures,” she calls over her shoulder. “I want to see Flash’s face when your son wins this for us.”

Tony stares after her with he mouth open and his eyebrows furrowed for a second, before shaking his head in exasperation.

He finally takes his seat on the end of the row. People seem to have finally lost interest in him, and Ned’s mom is talking animatedly with a man on the row in front of them, so Tony turns his attention to the camera.

The playback button is taunting him.

After a moment of hesitation, Tony turns the camera on and hits the button, pulling up Peter’s most recent pictures. The first one is, of course, one of the three that MJ had taken of him.

He’s scowling down at her, the bad florescent lighting making the his face looked paler and older than it should. He skips to the next one, almost the same, but this time there’s a fire in his eyes at the insinuation that he adopted Peter for any other reason that it’s _Peter_ and Peter was _his kid_ even before May died.

He takes a deep breath and moves on to the third.

He’s staring away from the camera, his lips slightly parted in shock. There is adoration written into every line of his face, an open tenderness in his gaze that can only mean he’s looking at Peter.

Tony swallows, looks subtly around him to make sure no one’s watching him. He looks back at the picture, his thumb hovering over the delete button.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Academic Decathlon regional finalists participating in the science quiz portion to the stage.”

Tony jumps, looking up at the stage as kids start filing out and taking their seats. Peter’s the seventh kid to walk out, his curls extra ruffled like he’s been running his hands through it in his nerves.

Tony hesitates for one more second before turning the camera off, the picture still sitting on the memory card. He claps for his kid, grinning when Peter’s eyes find him from the stage.

_I love you_ , he thinks again. And then, _kick their butts, kiddo_.

Peter does indeed win it for them, and Tony gets a close up of Flash’s face as he sits sulking at the end of the table, having answered zero questions. He thinks he’s going to get it framed for MJ.

After Midtown is awarded their trophy, they come rushing over to the section where the parents and teachers are sitting, cheering and whooping as they come. Tony stands up and immediately envelops Peter in a hug, the trophy that he’s still carrying hitting Tony in the back.

“I’m so proud of you, Pete,” Tony calls over the sounds of his teammates celebrating.

“Peter!” Someone calls, and he sees Ned’s mom with Peter’s camera that Tony had left on his seat. “Let me take a picture of you and your dad with the trophy!”

And there was that word again, glowing and addictive, and Peter doesn’t correct her, just turns in Tony’s arms and holds up the trophy.

“1, 2, 3,” she counts, and the shutter clicks.

Tony’s smile feels like it’s going to split his face in two, his heart repeating _my dad my dad_ with every beat.

“1, 2, 3.”

On the last count, Tony unabashedly turns his head and kisses Peter on the temple just as the camera flashes.

He takes the team out for dinner, the trophy in the seat of honor at the end of the table, and Tony takes more pictures of Peter and his friends and Peter takes pictures of everyone and everything.

Later, as he and Peter drive home, he sees Peter flicking through the pictures out of the corner of his eye.

When Peter gets to the one MJ had taken of Tony before the competition, he stills. Love is written unabashedly all over Tony’s face, and he wonders if Peter realizes it’s all directed at him.

They pull up to a red light and Tony risks a glance over at Peter. He’s still looking at the picture.

“See any you like?” Tony asks, trying to sound casual.

Peter looks up at him. “Yeah. Yeah, there are a few I’m going to print out.” There’s a small moment of silence as everything unsaid hangs in the air. “That one you got of Flash belongs in the MoMA.”

Tony laughs. The light turns green and Tony eases onto the accelerator. “I think I’m going to frame it for MJ.”

 

Two weeks later, when Maggie steals Tony’s left shoe and he chases her into Peter’s room trying to get it back, he sees three new pictures on Peter’s wall. One of Peter, Ned, and MJ celebrating their win, the second of Tony and Peter and the trophy, the one where Tony was kissing Peter, the boy’s eye scrunched closed in surprise, and the third, the one MJ had taken of him looking at Peter.

Tony smiles to himself and leaves, deciding to just wear a different pair of shoes.    

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry Maggie wasn't in here much. She will be in the next one!


End file.
